What stops you researching your target market by phone?

• Perhaps you're uncertain which questions to ask.
• Perhaps you think you already know exactly what your target audience is thinking and feeling.
• Or perhaps you're just frightened of using the phone.

Have no fear, these are common reactions.

In the same manner that you'd compile a list of questions for a survey or questionnaire sent by post, email or available online, you can take to the phone and do the same… with one crucial and distinct advantage: You can go off script if and when the person you're speaking with elaborates on a particular subject point or gives you a piece of information that leads you to ask more probing questions about their situation, either there on the spot or in another scheduled call later on.

The investigation becomes a conversation.

That's powerful, because you now have the person's ear and they'll remember you more clearly than they'll ever remember the paper or electronic application that records their written answers to a survey. And remember, unless you're selling extremely low-cost commodities, people still buy people.  

The spoken word and the written word are two very different media: Both have their place, and combining them effectively (calling and emailing) can be very powerful.

What's hard to dispute is the power of the spoken word and the emotions that are carried in those words and that lend weight to them. Getting it "from the horses mouth" and also recording what is said (on paper and / or using a call recording device) is a winning combination.

A study undertaken by the University of Texas in 1997* backs this up: People remember:

• 10 percent of what they read;

• 20 percent of what they hear;

• 30 percent of what they see;

• 50 percent of what they see and hear;

• 70 percent of what they say; and

• 90 percent of what they do and say

So, now you know that your clients and prospects are far better off hearing from you  (as well as reading and seeing things from you), what’s stopping you speaking with them? Some of them are even waiting for your call. 

*Metcalf, T. (1997) Listening to your clients, Life Association News, 92(7) p16 – 18
photo credit: Mr Wabu